What Einstein Kept under His Hat: Secrets of Science in the Kitchen

In response to on-going questions from readers of his nationally syndicated Washington Post column, "Food 101", Wolke debunks misconceptions with reliable, common sense logic. And for exceptionally inquisitive cooks and scientists, he offers “Sidebar Science” features, which dig more deeply into the chemical processes that underlie food and cooking. Above all, What Einstein Kept under His Hat provides indispensable information that will make listeners better shoppers, cooks, and eaters.

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Publisher's Summary

Have you ever wondered why onions make us cry? Do you believe bananas contain more calories as they ripen and get sweeter? This sequel to the best-selling What Einstein Told His Cook continues Robert L. Wolke's investigations into the science behind our foods.

In response to on-going questions from readers of his nationally syndicated Washington Post column, "Food 101", Wolke debunks misconceptions with reliable, common sense logic. And for exceptionally inquisitive cooks and scientists, he offers “Sidebar Science” features, which dig more deeply into the chemical processes that underlie food and cooking.

Above all, What Einstein Kept under His Hat provides indispensable information that will make listeners better shoppers, cooks, and eaters.

This book carries on from where the previous one (What Einstein Told His Cook…) left off and continues in the same chatty, and informal style, and is read by the same narrator.

The chapters are ‘topic’ based, rather than a progression of questions and answers. This works well. For example ‘grass’ is considered in one chapter and ‘carbohydrates’ in another. The technical notes which peppered the previous publication have been expanded into many useful ‘Sidebar Science’ commentaries that explore the science in more detail. This is commendable, as are the numerous references to external web sites.

Unfortunately we have to suffer the ‘Foodies Fictionary’, a series of many, many abominable puns that were intended to lighten things up a bit. For example,Q What is pie?A 3.142….In fairness with the correct delivery many of the entries would be humorous, but Runnette’s delivery, with his many garbled and indistinct punchlines in an otherwise clear recording, diminishes their impact so much that I would have preferred them to have been excised.

Cooking temperatures are presented in both Fahrenheit and Celsius which is wonderful.

Unfortunately the associated pdf file is not included with the Audible download. Instead it is necessary to navigate through the publisher’s website and enter a code to access the material. The procedure is detailed in the audio book, but it is rather clumsy. This is a shame because the material is worth reading. It has some great recipes and includes the graphs referred to in the book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Tweetingcheetah

4/7/13

Overall

"Entertaining even for people who don't cook"

I read and listen to a lot of science books but this is the most entertaining and useful book I ever listened to (and read.) This book has changed the way I think every day in the kitchen - Wolke is a nuclear biologist who taught in a university and explains in non-specialist language the scientific facts about everything to do with food and drink. Now I know a lot of things I have read in magazines and recipes are wrong.

I have now listened to all Robert L. Wolke's audiobook on strength of this book and they are all entertaining and informative. Even if you don't cook, or not interested in science, you will be hugely entertained by this audiobook.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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